Sunday, 19 May 2013

extra terrestrial - Can a tidally locked planet have their own habitable zone?

As you suggest, it might be possible for a habitable corridor to exist along the stationary terminator. But there are ideas around for more than that. The planet might be exposed to tidal forces the volcanism of which warms the far side. It might have a thick stormy ocean or atmosphere which evens out the surface temperature (All but the smallest planets have atmospheres). It might have habitable moons which when tidally locked to the planet rotate regularly versus the star. And if it, like Mercury, has an eccentric enough orbit it might rotate relative to its star although it is tidally locked. Planetary diversity is huge.

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